Some Structural Variables in Auditory Projective Testing

This study explored perceived pleasantness of auditory projective stimuli as related to three aspects of the projective response; emotional tone, RT and length of stories. Thirty blind and 30 sighted males, comparable in age and intelligence, told stories in response to eight selected auditory stimuli and rated them for pleasantness. Emotional tone varied significantly with pleasantness for 5 out of 8 sounds. Pleasantness was not significantly related to story length nor to RT, except for the sound of weeping. Blind Ss told longer stories than the sighted. Apparent consistent individual differences in response to the auditory projective method were observed. This technique seems useful in the study of personality, perception and cognition of sighted and blind persons.     

Some Personality Correlates of the Conjugate Lateral Eye-Movement Phenomenon

One can observe, in many Ss, relatively consistent, unidirectional, conjugate lateral eye movements (CLEM) occuring in relation to reflective thought. Some studies have suggested an affinity between CLEM catagories (Right Lookers, Left Lookers) and catagories in other personality typologies (e.g., William James). An attempt was made to test this notion and determine cognitive and perceptual correlates of CLEM, employing the Rorschach. Hypotheses predicted a diffuse, “tender-minded” cognition for Left Lookers and a focused “tough-mindedness” for Right Lookers. Results were marginal for all instruments with the exception that sample extremes differed in Form-level and organization.     

Some variables in the blue (red) phenomenon

The relation between spontaneous color choices and ratings of the prototypicality, conspicuousness, and pleasantness of colors was studied in a sample of Dutch college students. Pleasantness, not prototypicality or conspicuousness, determined the four most frequent spontaneous choices--red, blue, green, and purple. Subjects considered blue the most pleasant of the 12 colors studied, which suggests a pleasantness explanation for the "blue phenomenon" found in some countries. The predominance of red as a spontaneous choice replicated the results of previous studies in the Netherlands. Red also was rated highest in prototypicality but was not rated higher by red choosers than by choosers of other colors, so that a simple prototypicality explanation was rejected. Further analysis showed that the predominance of red as the spontaneous choice of Dutch subjects can be explained by an interaction between prototypicality and pleasantness: Subjects tended to choose red when they rated it highly on both variables.     

谈谈某些地区农村村民热衷于兴建庙宇的现象

2003年暑假,我们对湖北某些地区农村迷信活动进行了一次调查,结果发现农村现在虽然是科学进步了,生产力提高了,人民生活改善了,但却刮起了一股与当今崇尚科学、全力建设小康生活与先进文化的时代节奏不合拍的逆风,那就是各村村民热衷于修庙拜神,对此是慷慨解囊和乐此而不疲。 在与当地的一些村民交谈中发现这种现象主要归“功”于一些所谓“德高望重”的长老,甚至是一些曾经参加过农村基层领导工作的老党员和老干部,正是在这些颇具影响力的人物带动下,农村村民积极地投身到这种和当今精神文明建设很不和谐的活动之中。为此。下文我们将主要对这些始作俑者的心理动机作简要的分析。     

Mastering the Use of Control Variables: the Hierarchical Iterative Control (HIC) Approach

There has been growing criticism of the established practice of automatically including control variables into analyses, especially with survey studies. Several authors have explained the pitfalls of improper use and have provided some best practice advice. I build upon this foundation in suggesting a programmatic approach to the use of control variables that can provide evidence to support or refute feasible explanations for why two or more variables are related. The hierarchical iterative control (HIC) approach begins by establishing a connection between two or more variables and then hierarchically adds control variables to rule in or out their possible influence. The HIC approach involves conducting a series of studies to iteratively test relationships among target variables, utilizing a variety of control variable strategies involving multiple methods. A 7-step programmatic approach is described beginning with development of the research question and background literature review and then conducting empirical tests in a hierarchical (within a study) and iterative (across studies) manner.

     

略论因明学史学上的若干问题

因明学史研究目前仍是学术界的一个薄弱环节,很多问题一直没有得到解决,甚至有以讹传讹之处。本文对因明学何时传入汉地的问题、刘勰《文心雕龙》与因明学的关系、因明学在唐代佛道之争中的作用等问题进行了探讨。     

经皮冠状动脉介入治疗（PCI）后无复流现象的综合解析

现已证明无复流现象的发生会明显降低经皮冠状动脉介入治疗(PCI)效果,影响患者近、远期预后。应用综合思维探讨无复流现象发生的机理、制定预防策略至关重要。     

The Theory of Planned Behavior: Some Measurement Issues Concerning Belief-Based Variables

The theory of planned behavior presents clear operational definitions of attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and each of their corresponding belief-based measures. Theoretically, the direct and indirect measures of a given construct must be closely correlated. Empirical results, however, indicate that this is not always the case. In the present study, 2 of the factors that could be responsible for this situation-namely, the scaling of the variables defining each belief-based construct and the adequacy of using an expectancy-value model within the belief-based measures-were verified among a data set of 16 studies concerned with the application of the theory of planned behavior to the field of health. The results indicate that the scaling method used affected the correlation coefficients between indirect and direct measures. However, the face validity of these scaling methods must be demonstrated. The results also support the idea that, in most cases, using the expectancy-value model is no better than using only one arm of the belief-based measure.     

Risk-Taking and Risk-Avoiding Behavior: The Impact of Some Dispositional and Situational Variables

The purpose of this research was to assess the ability of a decision making model to correctly predict subjects' preferences for one of two alternatives; one alternative was highly valued but risky, whereas the other was less valuable but more certain. The model was based on the assumption that an additive relationship exists among self-efficacy, self-worth, and parental expectations in influencing subjects' propensity to take risks. The results suggested that the model did not work as expected. Rather, self-efficacy emerged as the principle variable influencing the risk-taking and risk-avoiding decision-making behaviors of subjects when a variety of resources were involved.     

经皮冠状动脉介入治疗(PCI)后无复流现象的综合解析

现已证明无复流现象的发生会明显降低经皮冠状动脉介入治疗(PCI)效果,影响患者近、远期预后.应用综合思维探讨无复流现象发生的机理、制定预防策略至关重要.     

A Polychoric Instrumental Variable (PIV) Estimator for Structural Equation Models with Categorical Variables

This paper presents a new polychoric instrumental variable (PIV) estimator to use in structural equation models (SEMs) with categorical observed variables. The PIV estimator is a generalization of Bollen’s (Psychometrika 61:109–121, 1996) 2SLS/IV estimator for continuous variables to categorical endogenous variables. We derive the PIV estimator and its asymptotic standard errors for the regression coefficients in the latent variable and measurement models. We also provide an estimator of the variance and covariance parameters of the model, asymptotic standard errors for these, and test statistics of overall model fit. We examine this estimator via an empirical study and also via a small simulation study. Our results illustrate the greater robustness of the PIV estimator to structural misspecifications than the system-wide estimators that are commonly applied in SEMs. Kenneth Bollen gratefully acknowledges support from NSF SES 0617276, NIDA 1-RO1-DA13148-01, and DA013148-05A2. Albert Maydeu-Olivares was supported by the Department of Universities, Research and Information Society (DURSI) of the Catalan Government, and by grant BSO2003-08507 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology. We thank Sharon Christ, John Hipp, and Shawn Bauldry for research assistance. The comments of the members of the Carolina Structural Equation Modeling (CSEM) group are greatly appreciated. An earlier version of this paper under a different title was presented by K. Bollen at the Psychometric Society Meetings, June, 2002, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.     

Variables in abortion counselling

Five variables involved in abortion counselling are examined: the religioethical beliefs of the counsellor, the religio-ethical beliefs of the counselee, the status of abortion laws, the available techniques for abortion, and the counsellor's assumptions about the 'sequellae' of abortion. Illustrations are drawn from both the recently published Lane Report and a set of medical case-studies. An attempt is made to assess the relative importance of the five variables.